58. Duon Seventy One
“Jeongho, now that you are by my side, I think my studies are going well.”
At Yeong-mi’s words, I said with a smirk.
“Kim Young-mi, you’ve been lying a lot during that time!”
“Oh my goodness! Isn’t that a lie?”
For reference, in the last midterm and mock exams, Youngmi finished first in the entire school.
“I haven’t been studying well, but did you do well on the exam?”
At my words, Youngmi smiled bashfully.
Youngmi’s half-moon eyes that are slightly closed are always good to see.
“But when are you going to start showing your skills?”
I said to Youngmi’s question.
“Show your skills? What skills do you have?”
“Jeong-ho, you are second-class.”
Currently, the high school transcript system is divided into 15 grades, and in order to receive the 1st grade, you must be within the top 3%.
Since the total number of students in our grade is 447, we receive 1st grade up to 13th place in the entire school.
In the last midterm exam, my grade was 15th in the whole school, and this is what Young-mi was talking about.
“OMG… How do you know my grades?”
Yeong-mi said with her palms open.
“I told you. Chae Jung-ho is on the palm of my hand. But are you really not going to raise your grades? You know that the SAT is important, but your body is just as important.”
I said with a clever expression.
“I did my best. I barely made it to 15th place in the whole school.”
“really?”
As I nodded, Youngmi put her hand on the back of my left hand and said.
“Jeong-ho, you really can’t.”
All my nerves were focused on Yeongmi’s left hand.
“Yes? what?”
“Now I have to study you.”
“… ?”
“I’m a high school student, I have to study. Where do you have time to work for the company now?”
“… .”
“From now on, don’t go to Yunseong Soft every weekend, come to my house and study with me. Understand?”
I slowly turned my left hand over and spread my fingers apart, and Yeong-mi’s soft fingers slipped between mine.
I said, clasping Youngmi’s hand tightly.
“Mr. Kim Young-mi, then, I wish you all the best in the future.”
A bright smile spread across Youngmi’s face at my words.
The next day, Sunday, the executive office of Balhae Sports.
After connecting to the internal computer network from his computer, Young-mi’s father smiled at me and said:
“You know it well even if I don’t explain each one, right?”
“Yes, I know.”
The old man got up from his seat and said.
“Then would you like to sit here and check? I have a place to go for a while.”
So he left his office, and I moved the mouse and started checking the documents one by one.
As he said, the company’s situation was not good.
First of all, domestic sales were hitting bottom, and Kick Sports, an American retailer, was demanding a lower delivery price using the high exchange rate as an excuse.
But while checking the company’s financial situation… I found one strange thing.
The usage fee for the warehouse located in Siheung was paid.
In addition, the usage fee is quite high.
Last month, the next highest expense item after employee salaries, factory operating costs, and publicity costs was warehouse usage fees.
It is strange to pay money to use the warehouse owned by the company, but it seems problematic to pay such a large amount as a fee.
The next document confirmed is the company’s reorganization file.
A month ago, Young-mi said that she was going to the funeral of her company boss.
I wondered how the company’s management structure had changed since the funeral of the original president.
Executive Director Moo-sik Choi was promoted to president, and it was revealed that on the same day, Director Moo-ik Choi left the company.
Young-mi’s father lost the title of vice president and seemed to retain only the executive director position.
I opened the recently revised company’s articles of incorporation.
By the way, the articles of incorporation of the company are… It is a document that summarizes the company’s name, purpose, composition of the board of directors, shares and profit distribution.
President Moo-sik Choi inherited all the shares owned by the deceased original president, and Moo-ik Choi, who did not receive even a 1% stake, was removed from the board of directors.
For reference, the articles of incorporation indicated that 56% of the company’s total shares were owned by Choi Moo-sik, and the remaining 44% by Young-mi’s father.
Things were starting to make sense.
The reason why the original president, who had died, did not divide his shares and passed them on to CEO Choi Moo-sik seemed to be to prevent the transfer of management rights to Young-mi’s father.
I do not know the specific circumstances, but I thought that there would be a lot of dissatisfaction with Choi Moo-ik during the inheritance process.
Then Youngmi’s father came into the executive office and said,
“I brought some drinks and snacks. It took Kim a long time to find the sweets because Deputy Director Kim hid it. haha.”
I asked as I drank the drink that my uncle brought.
“By the way, is there a case where a company pays a usage fee for a warehouse owned by the company?”
“ah… ! Have you checked that already? That has a story… … .”
According to the uncle’s explanation, the warehouse site in Siheung is not actually owned by the company.
In the meantime, Balhae Sports used the warehouse owned by the president in the form of a free lease, and in return for the free lease, the president was able to own an additional 10% of the company’s stake.
It’s a bit complicated, but it seems to be a shortcut to reduce taxes.
Anyway, according to the will of the deceased president, the warehouse and site in Siheung were changed to the possession of the second son, former managing director Choi Moo-ik, who changed from free lease to paid lease instead of relinquishing 10% of his stake.
After the explanation, the old man let out a long sigh.
“under—-! It’s a lot of noise these days. Director Choi Moo-ik is in a situation where he is very dissatisfied with his brother, so it seems like he is holding a bomb that will explode.”
“… .”
“Oh yeah! Can you take a look at this? In fact, to show you this, I asked you to come to work today.”
Uncle handed me a blue paper file.
It was a document that summarized foreign exchange account information and the US export plan currently being prepared. Judging by the fact that many of the documents remained blank, it seemed that the matter had not yet been decided.
“These days, we are negotiating delivery prices and payment schedules with Kick Sports in the US. But the exchange rate fluctuates too much, so I wanted to ask you. I don’t mean to burden you, so can you please let me know what you think?”
According to the documents the uncle gave me, it was mid-December when the goods were shipped from Busan Port, and the delivery price and payment amount were slightly different depending on the time of payment at Kick Sports.
Uncle’s question… The question was whether it would be better to receive the payment immediately after the goods are shipped, or if it is better to receive the goods after they arrive in San Francisco, USA, even if the delivery price is slightly reduced.
I thought for a moment, and carefully opened my mouth.
“Even if we reduce the delivery price, I think it would be better to settle the entire amount right after shipment.”
“Yesterday you explained, but how do you anticipate exchange rate changes in the future… Can I be more specific?”
“Actually, it’s just a rough estimate for me. I could be wrong.”
“Okay. After all, the decision is mine.”
The man looked at me with a serious expression, and I began to explain.
“The exchange rate is… I’m talking about the value of the won, and there are many factors that affect the value of money, but the most important thing is the government’s ability to defend against foreign exchange in a situation where the balance between the won and the dollar is broken.”
The old man nodded, and I continued.
“But now, our foreign exchange reserves are running out, so our government has no ability to defend against the exchange rate. As I said yesterday, if the IMF Deputy Minister is to come in… It will probably take two or three weeks or as long as a month.”
“They say that the exchange rate will continue to rise until then, so will the exchange rate return to normal when the IMF loan comes in?”
I shook my head at the uncle’s question.
“It will take a lot of time. Even if it collapses for a moment, it is not easy to get it back.”
The man nodded silently, and I continued explaining.
“It will only happen after international credit institutions like S&P and Moody’s upgrade the national credit rating. Investments are made only when the credit rating rises, and the value of the won rises when the dollar comes in through the investment. and… .”
“and?”
“Even if the economic crisis is over… It is highly likely that the government intentionally locks the exchange rate against the dollar. So it won’t go down to 800 won per dollar like it used to.”
“Why?”
“Since Korea is an export-oriented country, the higher the won-dollar exchange rate, the more favorable it is for exports.”
The old man nodded and said.
“Okay, then, when we talk to Kicksports, we can take the payment slowly.”
“No, the payment should be received in mid-December, immediately after shipment. If you have dollars like that, and the exchange rate goes up to 2,000 won in late December, it would be better to exchange it for won.”
My uncle nodded his head and said.
“Yeah, don’t do that. Thank you, Jungho. It was really helpful.”
“I… mister.”
“yes?”
I said, pointing to the papers my uncle gave me.
“Even if the export volume goes out to Kicksport, I think there is still a lot of inventory left.”
Hearing my words, my uncle let out a long sigh.
“Right now, there are virtually no domestic sales, so this is a really big deal.”
“Then why don’t you ask Cuerpino in Uruguay?”
“Cuerpino? There’s a company that makes leather fabrics… What does that mean?”
Lucas Garcia.
Last Life When I was working as an assistant professor at Texas State University, he was my first doctoral student.
Lucas was an international student from Uruguay, and he was popular among students because of his funny personality unique to South America as a comedian.
Lucas has often talked about his home country, Uruguay, and heard that Uruguay has won two World Cups, and that football enthusiasm in Uruguay is never inferior to that of Brazil or Argentina.
And most importantly, football in Uruguay is not an elite sport, but a sport enjoyed by all citizens.
In other words, the demand for soccer shoes and soccer equipment, which are the main products of Balhae Sports, is enormous.
I opened my mouth to the uncle’s question, “What do you mean?”
“I did some research on Cuerpino. It’s a bigger company than I thought.”
“right. It will account for over 50% of Uruguay’s share of total leather manufacturing.”
“Did you know that Cuerpino owns a professional soccer team?”
My uncle shook his head at my question, and I continued.
“And in Uruguay, soccer fever is so high that almost every neighborhood has an active soccer team and an amateur league.”
“… !”
“And crucially, Uruguay is one of the most expensive countries in South America. The price we deliver to Kicksports in the US is about $10 per pair of soccer shoes, right?”
The old man nodded, and I continued the story.
“10 dollars is about 110 Uruguayan dollars, and 110 pesos is the price of a regular meal at a restaurant.”
In other words, it means that the soccer products made by Balhae Sports are competitively priced.
read at noblemtl.com
Not only that.
As the won-dollar exchange rate rises in the future, price competitiveness will increase.
When I finished my explanation, he took my hand and said,
“I should have asked you earlier… Thank you so much. I’ll have to call Cuerpino right away tomorrow.”
When I returned to the neighborhood in my uncle’s car, he stopped the car in front of Building 101, where my house is, and told me that I was getting ready to get off.
“Jung Ho-ya, that’s my password to access the company’s computer network. Changed only from Sanggye-dong to Namseo-dong. The last four digits are the same.”
“… ?”
The uncle said with a sly smile.
“If you come in from time to time and see if there is anything special, please let me know.”
the next morning.
It was Monday and I woke up earlier than expected.
Just in case, I turned on my computer and checked my email.
There were two pieces of good news in my inbox.